MIN CHARTER 2019-03-25 (2018-2020) - Public Hearing

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Hawai`i County Charter Commission — Public Hearing March 25, 2019 years. I know that you guys are giving up family time and work time to do the work that you are doing so we are greatly appreciative of that. I have been volunteering my time with a lot of these wonderful people here in this room for I don't know, 16, 17 years working on open space issues and it has been a great pleasure. And the first time I ever went before the County Council was in, I think 2003, I was with John Replogle from Kali and we were there testifying about the Honu'apo purchase and the... I believe the testimony I provided was two pages of citations and research on the economic benefits of open space and similar efforts around the country that have provided a lot of great opportunities for people. So, I am here to just reinforce I guess the rural economic development opportunities. I know that was part of the intention behind the maintenance fund. We just got our first grant this last year, 2018 Kohala did, under the maintenance fund. We submitted it I think first in 2013 or 2014, so it took a while. And the reason why I bring that up is that kind of speaks to the need for one of the amendments and that is a dedicated staff person. I know there are a number of reasons why it took a while to get that grant, but I think having someone focused on that would be very helpful. Part of the reason behind pursuing the maintenance fund as I shared in February and you have probably heard from other folks here tonight was to be able to support the families and the communities who know these lands really well, and it makes sense to engage them continually. They have been working these lands, they have been stewarding them forever and to provide the resources to do so, and of course there is an economic motive for that as well. I mean and we circulate dollars locally and they stay here locally. The other part of the... I think CA -18 that is on your agenda today speaks to the need to be able to pay staff people in these organizations that are working on implementing projects under the maintenance fund. I can definitely speak to that personally. It is difficult not to be able to reimburse people's travel, you know, if we are not going to be able to... if we don't allow the amendment to go forward, the folks that are primarily working on these projects are the ones that have financial means to take time away from work or don't work, or are retired, and really what we want to do is to be able to engage all levels of the community and often times these people, the folks that are... I am sure you have heard this from the Ka`u people and the people at Waipi`o, you know, they are smaller communities and the people who have applied for these grants are the people who have worked on the lands for a long time and it makes sense that they should have some of those expenses to be able to be paid for. Without my cliff notes I think I have covered those two points. I just want to thank you again for your time, for coming all the way up to Kohala. Thank you for keeping the 2% fund and the maintenance fund intact and I hope you will make those small little tweaks that will make it a lot easier for those of us working on the ground to do the job. May I ask... something just popped into my mind...I know you guys are really well aware of how the maintenance fund was spent in the last few years. I believe Page 8